Nail



p 3, 1947, I E. GISONDI 2,427,959

NAIL

Filed 001;. 25, 1944 Patented Sept. 23, 1947 STATS NAIL 4 Claims.

This invention relates to fastening devices, and particularly to anail-like fastener adapted to be forcedor driven through one or morelayers of material and extend at the back thereof and have parts orprong-like extensions bent over in opposite directions to thereby clenchthe nail and prevent it frombeing inadvertently displaced or withdrawn.

An object of the invention is to provide a fastener of the typedescribed in which a bending-over or clenching action at the back of thematerial is automatically secured by merely driving the nail completelyinto position to bring its head into contact with the outer surface ofthe material.

Another object of the invention is to provide means by which the prongsor legs of the fastener are bent outwardly in opposite directions andagainst the back of the material, and by which said bent-over parts areangularly braced and strongly held against retractive bending.

At the present time many low-density sheet materials are being used forbuilding construction, and one of the difliculties encountered in usingsuch materials is the inability of ordinary nails and similar drivenfasteners to securely anchor themselves in the soft, fibrous sheetmaterials of this kind. Consequently, the fastening together of severallayers of material, such as, for example, the securement of shingles tofibrous wall board, has been found very diflicult, and the fasteningdevices ordinarily employed for such work have either beenunsatisfactory or very time-consuming to use. The optimum sought in afastener for use for the purpose mentioned,-

and for similar uses, is the ability to be handled, used and driven inthe manner of an ordinary nail, yet which will so anchor itself that itwill securely and tenaciously hold itself in place and can only beremoved with manual effort and suitable tools. The present invenordistort the material through which it is driven, and which will clenchor bend over in back of the material by simply driving it in EmanuelGisondi, Larchmont, N. Y.

Application October 25, 1944, Serial No. 560,245

2 purpose requiring a secure, self-clenching or self-locking hall, whichcan be driven in like an ordinary nail, but which will effectively lockitself in place by spread and reinforced parts at the back of thematerial through which the nail is driven.

In the accompanying drawing, wherein an illustrative embodiment of theinvention is shown, Fig. 1, is a face view of the sheet-metal blank fromwhich one of the improved fasteners or nails is constructed; Fig. 2 is aside view of the completed nail; Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the line3--3 of Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows; Fig. 4 is atopplan view of the nail: Fig. 5 is'a sectional view on the line 55 of Fig.4, looking in the direction of the arrows; Fig. 6 is a bottom view ofthe nail; Fig. 7 shows the nail partly driven through several layers ofsheet material and before the spreading action has taken place; Fig. 8is a sectional view taken at right angles to the view of Fig. 7, andshowing the nail driven home and the prongs or legs fully spread apartagainst the back of the material through which the nail has been driven;

Fig. 9 is a face view of the back of the material through which the nailhas been driven, showing the bent-over prongs or legs of the nail, andFig. 10 is a view showing a slightly modified form of head.

The improved fastening device or nail is prefalong the central fold line24, the blank being place, so that its removal without tools andconsplit as at 2, along this line, for a portion of its length from apoint located between the pointed ends II and H of the two halves to thepoint designated at 3 in Fig. l.

The half-portion indicated at 5 is slit longitudinally as shown at I,from its rear end.6 to the point 8 located a short distance from the tipi2.

This slitting of the part 5 as above explained, serves to divide saidpart into two strip-like sections or tongues indicated at 20 and 21. Theportion shown at 4 is similarly slit, as indicated at 9, the outertermination of the slit 9 being indicated at H). Part 4 is thus divided,for a portion of its length, into the two strip-like sections or tonguesindicated at 22 and 26.

The tongue or strip 22 is formed .with an integral extension or neck i3terminating in a disk it which forms the main head of the nail. In

or neck I! is folded on the several transverse fold lines l5, l6 and I!so that the neck portion 13 when so folded. extends once across theunderside or back face of the head it and'then extends to a centralpoint from whence it projects rearwardly, as clearly seen in Figs. 4 and6. This arrangement'greatly reinforces the head H of the nail and can beused in instances when the nail is intended to be driven throughrelatively hard or resistant materials. Where great rigidity andstiffness of the head H is not required, the neck portion i3 can be madeshorter and can be bent over in the manner indicated at 35 in Fig. 10 tothus provide a head-reinforcement of single thickness.

The two halves 4 and 5 are brought together or in face-to-face contact,by folding the blank along the central fold line 24, the two halves 4and 5 being free of connection to one another from the point designatedat 3 to the tips ii and l2.'

A head or abutment 25 is provided on the section 20 by bending the sametransversely on the lines I8 and i9, this serving to produce a lateralor transverse extension. Similarly, the section or strip 26 is folded onthe lines l8 and i3 to produce a projection or supplemental head 23.

The result of the operations heretofore described will be seen in Figs.2 to 6 inclusive, wherein it will be noted that a sheet-metal nail isprovided which has two double-thickness legs joined in a certain mannernear their pointed ends. That is to say, a short leg is provided whichconsists of the two contiguous strip sections 20 and 26, and a longerleg is provided which consists of the two sections 2 iv and 22. The headfor the longer leg is the disk l4, while the head for the short legconsists ofthe two members 23 and 25, this latter head being located forsome distance rearwardly of the head l4.

From the foregoing, the operation ofthe nail or fastener will be readilyunderstood. At 21, 28

and 29 is shown a number of layers of sheet material to be fastenedtogether. The materials are nail-penetrable, and the nail is driventhrough them in the conventional manner such as by blows from a hammer.As the nail is driven through the materials, it produces an aperture3i]. The nail is necessarily longer than the joint thickness of theseveral layers of material through which it is driven so that thepointed ends I I and I2 and parts of the sections 4 and 5 will projectbeyond the back face of the materials. When the nail has been partlydriven through the materials, the head on the short leg, said headconsisting of the co-operating abutments' 23 and 25. will come intocontact with the outer face of the material,

as shown in Fig. '7, thus preventing further penetration of the shortleg, which as previously explained, consists of the parts 20 and 26. Asfurther driving of the nail continues, the head I is driven home, orbrought into contact with the parts 23 and 25 as shown in Fig. 8, thelonger leg, consisting of the parts 2! and 22, will continue inward orpenetrating movement, causing bending over of the parts 20 and 26 in adirection away from one another as shown in Fig. 8. Parts 2| and 22 areprojected beyond the bent-over parts of the sections 20 and 26, and saidparts 2i and 22 thus form angular, truss-like portions or braces a and b(Figs. 8 and 9) which greatly stiffen and reinforce the bent-over endsof the parts provided in which a. simple driving movement serves to notonly cause the nail to penetrate the one ormore layers of materialthrough which it is driven, but which cause the parts or plies of thenail which protrude at the back of the material to be bent over orclenched in opposite directions and rigidly braced in such bent-overposition. The result is that a nail. inserted as described, will notbecome displaced and can only be removed with a tool.

The shape, size, and details of construction of the nail can be variedin many ways as will be apparent to those skilled in this art, sincesome of the details of construction of the nail are dependent upon thenature of the materials through which the nail is to be driven. In thisconnection it is to be noted that the points on which the parts of thenail bend over at the back of the material, are determined by thethickness of the material through which the nail is driven. That is tosay, the protruding parts will bend over at the points where they emergefrom the material, as is clearly seen in Fig. 8. Thus, the nail adjustsitself automatically to materials of different thickness through whichit is driven.

While I have shown one embodiment of the invention, it is obvious thatthe same is not to be restricted thereto but is broad enough to coverall structures coming within the scope of the annexed claims.

What I claim is:

1. A nail having a pair of leg portions, one of said leg portions beinglonger than the other and being located to one side of the other, eachleg portion having a head, each leg portion being of double thickness,the head on the shorter leg portion acting to limit the extent ofpenetration of the shorter leg portion through material, the longer legportion being capable of additional inserting movement through thematerial, the efiect of the latter movement causing parts of the shortand longer leg portions to spread apart in opposite directions at theback of the material through which the nail is driven.

2. A nail having a pair of connected legs, one of said legs beingshorter than the other and being located to one side of the other, eachleg being of no more than double thickness, the short leg having anabutment limiting its extent of penetration through material, the longerleg having a supplemental movement relative to the short leg, saidsupplemental movement acting to spread the thicknesses of both legsapart and in opposite directions at the back of the material throughwhich the nail is driven.

3. A nail having a flat wide shank portion consisting of an elongatedstrip of sheet metal folded longitudinally upon itself to form the shankinto two plies, a head at one end of the shank and a point at theopposite end, the two-ply shank being split longitudinally from the headto a position adjacent to the pointed end thereby dividing the shank fora portion of its length into 76 istlng of an elongated strip of sheetmaterial them against retractive bendi folded longitudinally upon itselfto form-the entire shank into two plies only,.a head at one end of theshank consisting of an extended part of one of the plies doubled overupon itself and having a disk-shaped terminal, a point at the oppositeend of the shank, the two-ply shank being split longitudinally from thehead to a position adjacent to the pointed end thereby dividing theshank for a-portion of its length into a pair of sections each being oftwo-ply construction one of said sections being located to one side ofthe other, said sections being disposed in the same fiat plane, one ofthe sections being shorter than the other and having a head located at adistance from the first head and situated between said first head andthe pointed end of the shank, the second head consisting of laterallyextended and doubled-over parts of the two plies of the short section ofthe shank.

mom. GISONDI. v

REFERENCES ofl'En' The following references are of record in the flle ofthis patent:

' UNITED STATES PATENTS

